While tech products are more than just lists of features, there has been a feature gap of late between iPhones and Galaxies: Things like water resistance, fast charging and VR on the Samsung phones; while 3D touch is one of the few neat/unique iPhone features. That dynamic changed a little bit with the arrival of the iPhone 7. Let's see how it sizes up next to the Galaxy S7.

Size

Dimensions

Apple didn't shrink or grow the iPhones this year, so this 4.7-inch model still measures in at 3 percent shorter and 4 percent narrower than the Galaxy S7.

Weight

Weight

Samsung's phone weighs 10 percent heavier.

Build

Build

These are two of the sleekest-looking pieces of kit you can buy today, with the iPhone's well-worn aluminum unibody build and the GS7's aluminum-meat with glass-bread sandwich.

Water resistance

Water resistance

The iPhone 7 is the first Apple handset that can (officially) survive an unfortunate dip into a pool, sink or toilet. It still trails, though, behind the stronger liquid protection in the S7.

Colors

Color options

Apple shuffled its color options a bit this year, with the new jet black model looking like a fraternal twin to the GS7's black.

Display size

Display size

No screen size changes on either side this year, so the S7 still has an 18 percent bigger screen.

Of course if you fancy an iPhone with a super-sized, phablet-ized screen, you can opt instead for the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus.

Display resolution

Display resolution

Apple historically has some of the best displays in the business, but the company hasn't bothered much playing the pixel density arms race games that are common with Android handsets.

Fingerprint sensor

Capacitive home button

Capacitive home button

Similar to the magic trick it pulled with the latest MacBooks, Apple gave the iPhone 7 a home button that doesn't move but – gasp – feels like it is moving! That's courtesy of some haptic (or, if you're Apple, "Taptic") feedback.

It is a neat feature, just don't expect any practical value.

VR

Wireless charging

Speaking of neat features, the Galaxy S7 can transform into the best mobile VR headset, the Samsung Gear VR.

There are technically VR headsets from smaller companies that work with the iPhone, but, in addition to a watered-down VR software selection in the App Store, that 4.7-inch screen has no business being inside a VR headset. Your field of view will have some cutoff.

Camera megapixels

Camera megapixels

Apple went all-in on selfies this year, with a higher-res 7 MP front camera.

OIS

Battery

We'll have to wait for teardowns to get a somewhat official reading on the iPhone 7's battery.

Fast charging

Fast charging

If there's one ginormous Android feature that we'd expected Apple to have copied by now, it's fast charging. No dice.

Wireless charging

Wireless charging

Not quite as significant as fast charging, but still a convenient option for some folks, is wireless charging.

Storage

Storage

Dear Apple fans: The gods (or at least Tim Cook and Jony Ive) have smiled upon you and granted you a much more with-the-times 32 GB storage in the entry-level iPhones. That doesn't mean, however, that Apple isn't still happy to upsell you on a phone with 4x the storage for "only" US$100 more.

MicroSD

MicroSD

iPhones have never – and probably never will – had expandable storage.

Mobile payments

Mobile payments

We have Apple Pay on the iPhone side of the aisle and (the oh-so-creatively-titled) Samsung Pay on the other. Despite its formulaic brand-name copying, Samsung Pay is the more versatile, as it works at not just NFC terminals but also most swipe-based credit card machines.

Software

Software

The iPhone ships with the new iOS 10; the GS7 is still on Android Marshmallow, with a thick layer of Samsung's TouchWiz UI gooped on top.

Release

Release

A major holiday for Apple fans, this Friday is D-Day for the new iPhones.

Starting price (full retail)

Starting price (full retail)

Pricing is similar – and keep in mind the S7's price varies from carrier to carrier. Apple uses its significant clout to mercilessly clobber carriers into using set pricing across the board.

For more on each handset, you can check out our reviews of the iPhone 7 and Galaxy S7.

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Will Shanklin is New Atlas' VR and Mobile Editor, and has been part of the team since 2012. He covers a broad range of consumer tech, including virtual reality hardware and software, smartphones, tablets, laptops and smartwatches.

Why didn't you compare security? The great Knox software used to secure Samsung Pay was called completely insecure back in 2014. And just over a year ago, it was reported that 600 million Samsung devices were vulnerable to hackers thanks to the unremovable SwiftKey software that's in the firmware.

JeffHowarthSeptember 14, 2016 02:16 AM

Can you guys include in the update maybe performance benchmark speed comparisons as well as battery life in hours. Might be helpful in taking abstract specs into the real world.

sheriffdudeSeptember 14, 2016 05:50 PM

And something for us geeks Samsung love the new s7 but you forgot to mention you took out through IR blaster no more remote control for my TV. But you can still control your Samsung if it a smart TV over WiFi

RobertLevineNovember 8, 2016 09:33 AM

You forgot a potential game-changer in your review. Apple dropped a physical headphone jack on the iPhone 7. The assumption that all devices we wish to connect are bluetooth compatible is a mistake. I am a drummer and an audiophile. I cannot hood up my high end headphones, my headphone amplifier or my electronic drum kit to the iPhone 7 without a lame adapter that drops audio quality to a pitance of what the direct connection headphone jack affords. Apple displaced the jack for larger speakers. There are too many options for bluetooth speakers out there. This is a major flaw in the iPhone 7.